Tag Archives: shape

Teiji-in uta’awase 02

Left

さかざらむものならなくにさくらばなおもかげにのみまだきみゆらむ

sakazaramu
mono naranaku ni
sakurabana
nao mo kage ni nomi
madaki miyuramu
Wishing not to bloom
Will not remain
The cherry blossom, but
Even so their shape alone
Swiftly, I would wish to see!

Mitsune
3

Right

やまざくらさきぬるときはつねよりもみねのしらくもたちまさりけり

yamazakura
sakinuru toki wa
tsune yori mo
mine no shirakumo
tachimasarikeri
When the mountain cherry
Has bloomed,
Earlier than usual
Clouds of white around the peak
Do rise spectacularly!

Tsurayuki
4[i]

The Left uses ‘wish’[ii] twice; the Right places the mountain cherries at a distance—that make the round a tie.


[i] This poem is included in Gosenshū (I: 118), with the headnote, ‘A poem from Former Emperor Uda’s Poetry Contest’.

[ii] Uda is objecting to Mitsune’s double usage of the auxiliary verb -ramu in his judgement here.

Sahyōe no suke sadafumi uta’awase 11

Love without meeting

Left (Win)

あふことのかたきしなればしらなみのたちよるかずはわれのみぞしる

au koto no
katakishi nareba
shiranami no
tachiyoru kazu wa
ware nomi zo shiru
Meeting you is
A distant cliff, so
The whitecaps’
Numbers breaking there
I alone do know.

21

Right

あはむとはおもひわたれどふじかはのすまずはつひにかげもみえじを

awamu to wa
omoi wataredo
fujikawa no
sumazu wa tsui ni
kage mo mieji o
To meet her
Passionately did I cross, yet
The Fuji River
Was so clouded that at the last
Her shape I could not see at all…

Mitsune
22

SSIS X: 725

Composed at the Kameyama Palace in the Eighth Month, Kenji 2 [1276], when the first topic announced was ‘the shape of a pine tree floating in a pond’.

万代とかめのを山の松かげをうつしてすめるやどの池水

yorozuyo to
kame no oyama no
matsukage o
utsushite sumeru
yado no ikemizu
For ten thousand generations
On the mount of Kame
Is the pine tree’s shape,
Reflected, so clear in
This dwelling’s pond waters.

The Retired Emperor [Kameyama]

Kanpyō no ōntoki kisai no miya uta’awase 34

Left

いつの間に花かれにけむながくだにありせば夏のかげとみましを

itsu no ma ni
hana karenikemu
nagaku dani
ariseba natsu no
kage to mimashi o
In an instant
The blossoms seems to wither!
If but longer
They were here, summer’s
Shape I would see in them…

66

Right

幾千たび鳴きかへるらむ足引の山ほととぎす声はわすれて

ikuchi tabi
nakikaeruramu
ashihiki no
yamahototogisu
koe wa wasurete
How many thousand times,
Does he return to sing?
The leg-wearying
Mountain cuckoo,
Forgetting his song…

67

Shiki koi sanshu uta’awase – Autumn

Autumn

Left

秋の夜の有明にみれど久堅の月のかつらはうつろはぬかな

aki no yo no
ariake ni miredo
hisakata no
tsuki no katsura wa
utsurouwanu kana
An autumn night’s
Dawn I see, yet
The eternal
Moon’s silver trees
Show no sign of fading!

13

秋萩の花咲く比の白露は下ばのためとわきて置くべし

aki hagi no
hana saku koro no
shiratsuyu wa
shitaba no tame to
wakite okubeshi
In autumn, the bush clover
Flowers bloom—just then
Silver dewdrops
For the under-leaves
Do fall, marking every one.

14

秋風はいなばもそよとふきつめりかりみる程と成りやしぬらん

akikaze wa
inaba mo soyo to
fukitsumeri
kari miru hodo to
nari ya shinuran
The autumn breeze
Seems to rustle the rice stalks
As it blows;
Seeing if ‘tis time to reap them—
Is that what it is, I wonder?

15

Right

銀河とわたる舟は花薄ほにいづるほどぞかげもみゆべき

ama no kawa
towataru fune wa
hanasusuki
ho ni izuru hodo zo
kage mo miyubeki
Across the River of Heaven
A boat goes ferrying:
When the silver grass
Ears burst into bloom,
Can its shape be seen.

16

女郎花さがの花をば色ながら秋をさかりといはれずもがな

ominaeshi
saga no hana oba
iro nagara
aki o sakari to
iwarezu mogana
Maidenflowers:
Blossoms from Saga
Reveal their hues, and
In autumn are most fine—that
Goes without saying!

17

小男鹿の朝たつ霧にうりふ山嶺の梢は色こかりけり

saoshika no
asa tatsu kiri ni
urifuyama
mine no kozue wa
iro kokarikeri
Stags
Within the rising morning mist on
Urifu Moutain, where
The treetops on the peak
Have taken darker hues.

18

Love VI: 5

Left (Tie).
やすらひに出にしまゝの月の影我涙のみ袖に待てども

yasurai ni
idenishi mama no
tsuki no kage
wa ga namida nomi
sode ni matedomo
Reluctantly
Emerged and left
That moonlight shape;
Though my tears, alone,
Upon my sleeves do wait…

Lord Sada’ie.
909

Right.
をろかにも思やるかな君もゝしひとりや今宵月を見るらん

oroka ni mo
omoiyaru kana
kimi mo moshi
hitori ya koyoi
tsuki o miruran
Heedlessly
Do I wonder
Whether maybe she, too,
Is alone this night
And gazing at the moon…

Nobusada.
910

The Right state: we cannot grasp the sense of the Left’s poem. The Left state: we are unable to understand the reason for the Right’s use of ‘heedlessly’ (oroka ni mo).

In judgement: while both poems do appear to have some conception, the Gentlemen of both Left and Right appear to have stated that they are unable to grasp it. Far be it from me to provide an interpretation in the light of this, so I shall follow the Gentlemen’s remarks and make this round a tie.